Preparations

You take a quick trip back down the well, to the grotto with your cores.

You're starting to realize just how **** this place is. Mana nodes are pretty easy to notice, apparently; if the Light takes Northhold, they'll surely realize there's something below it. You split off a small portion of yourself and start mapping the underground cave network, just in case you need to retreat.

You'd really hate to retreat, though. Having your own mana node is great.

You slide an angel feather through your slime and press it up against your core. The feather fuses into it seamlessly, leaving it looking much the same. Just a bit shinier, perhaps.

Gained: Angelic Protection. 100% immunity to status effects and instant ****. Defenses increased 200%.
Quest complete: Gain an Angel Blessing without help! (+900Kxp)
Experience sharing is enabled. Splitting three ways...
Leraje has gained twenty-seven levels! (3->30)
Redhoof has gained a level! (82->83)

You wave away the upgrade notifications, wondering idly what class Leraje is leveling now.

Of course, you have two cores, and plenty of feathers. Just to see, you press a feather against your other core...

Gained: Angelic Protection II. 200% immunity to status effects and instant ****. Defenses increased 400%.
Quest complete: create a new Angel Blessing! (+1.8Mxp)
Experience sharing is enabled. Splitting three ways...
Leraje has gained fifteen levels! (30->45)
Redhoof has gained three levels! (83->86)

"200% immunity" seems like a strange stat to have, but if there are powers out there that pierce resistance and immunity, then you suppose it could be worth it.

If you ever need the defense upgrade, something will have gone badly wrong.

You climb back up to Northhold. Redhoof is in the commander's boss room, a giant circular arena stained with blood. She's busy carving runes into the floor. A twenty-foot-tall tauren with a huge obsidian axe eyes you with suspicion.

"How's it going?" you ask.

"Very slowly!" she admits. "They're complicated runes, and I've never seen most of them before. And the circle is huge! I'm doing my best, but to be honest, this could take a month or more. And I'd inevitably make mistakes. And I have no idea how we'd supply it with mana. What's this thing even do?"

"It strips a goddess of her powers," you say. "Cuts her off from something called the Well of Divinity. Makes her ****."

Redhoof's eyes go wide. "A goddess?" she asks. "But the goddesses are our allies!"

"It's a good thing this isn't going to work, then!" you answer cheerfully. "This isn't a weapon. It's a distraction. We're going to need a good distraction very soon."

Redhoof nods. "I'll keep going, then. I'll move a little faster, and stop double-checking my work?"

"Attagirl," you agree. "Also, I have a gift for you. Hold still for a moment?"

You press an angel feather to her chest, and it melts into her body. Her eyes go wide. "For me?" she asks. "Thank you! Is this for the migraines from the anti-scrying spell?"

"It's because I like you," you answer. "No other reason needed."

"Well. I like you, too, then! I'm not sure how I'll repay you..."

"No repayment needed! We're all on the same team, after all!"

As you turn to leave, the giant tauren moves in front of you. He's almost half your size. "All these gifts for the Seer," he rumbles. "Have you got anything for the Commander of Northhold?"

You've never been sure how these tauren see themselves. Does this fellow think of himself as the next sacrificial head on the chopping block, the prime target for the Light Adventurer raids? Or is he proud of his achievements, climbing the ranks to the top, confident that he'll lead the fortress to victory against all odds?

You decide now isn't the time to find out. "Keep up the good work," you tell him, and you offer a tentacle fist-bump as you leave.

Your mana dips as you touch him, and your hindbrain flashes a message:

Infusion of Light: Buffs the target's health, attack, defense, and morale by 100% for the next hour.

"Thank you, minion! Much appreciated!" he calls after you.

You hadn't meant to do that, but you suppose it's fine. Your mana node is supplying more than you can use, anyway.

A rat therianthrope named Kal the Swift had captured two adventurers last night, and he's been keeping them alive in case you want them. You do, in fact, want them.

Redhoof calls ahead a message with her Seer ability, and Kal knows to flee as you enter the room. "Fuck, what's that?" he shouts dramatically. "A Light monster? I'm out of here!" And he runs off, leaving you wincing at his awful acting skills.

His two prisoners barely seem to notice. They're sitting on the cavern floor, tied up, back-to-back. Their mage robes are shredded, and their bodies are cut and bruised. They look enough alike to be sisters. The blue-haired mage facing you doesn't seem responsive; she just stares vacantly as you loom over her.

"Hey!" you whisper, poking the woman in the shoulder. "Hello? Light adventurers, report! Name, level, and serial number!"

She doesn't reply.

You have a power for this now. You invoke your new God's Eye skill, and a vision envelops you for a moment.

A birthday party for five girls at once. They laugh happily as they blow out candles on a cake.
A young woman in adventurer school, learning water magic. Long days training, long nights studying.
Five fresh-minted adventurers -- two mages, a priestess, a paladin, and a rogue.
A trip to Northhold. A battle with a minotaur, the paladin outmatched, the others covering for her.
A harder battle. The priestess patches everyone up. "One more," she says, "and we'll go back."
An empty room. A dark blur, too fast to see. The priestess falls with a dagger in her chest.
Panic and chaos, spells and daggers flying everywhere. They pull scrolls of recall. Three of them vanish.
Two scrolls are torn from their hands at the last second.
A rat-man with a gleeful expression. "You're in luck!" he says. "Today, we're taking prisoners..."

You shudder, and end the vision before you find out what happens next.

You poke the woman again. "Hey! Hello?" She rocks backward, but doesn't reply.

"Carol's had a rough time of it," the woman behind her says in a ragged voice. "Please don't bother her. You can talk to me. I'm Jenny. Please don't hurt us any more."

"Ah," you say. "Um. Hello, Jenny."

You had a plan for this -- rescuing the prisoners, healing them, seducing them, sending them home with a carefully-crafted tale to report to Citrinas. A slow trickle of healing magic, mixed with aphrodisiacs, should leave them with a truthful story about your sexual performance. You could have spread rumors of ancient forbidden knowledge to be gained, of hidden truths behind the world. You could have cast yourself as an emissary of Law, here to bring truth and eradicate lies. Everything you know about Citrinas suggests she would have eaten it up.

You find your heart isn't in it.

"Sorry about this," you say. "I wish I'd come sooner." You lay a tentacle carefully on each woman's shoulder, and healing magic floods into them. You add a debuff cleanse, and the blue-haired woman's eyes snap into focus. She screams.

You cut the ropes binding them. "I can't fix your clothes, so you'll be teleporting back half-naked. Sorry. Tell Citrinas -- tell her --" mentally you roll up your plan and throw it in the garbage. "Tell her I know the ritual to seal a goddess's power. Tell her I'll be waiting for her, in the commander's room, at midnight."

You scan the room. The lost recall scrolls are tossed behind a rock. You hand them back with a tentacle. "Carol, Jenny. I hope your sister's okay. Sorry again."

Carol reads the scroll and vanishes with a crack of displaced air. Jenny stays a moment, holding her arm across her breasts in a mostly-futile attempt at modesty. "That's it?" she asks. "We get captured, beaten, a giant tentacle monster shows up, and he... lets us go, with well-wishes for our sister?"

"I'm having a strange day," you answer. "Go. Shoo." You wave a tentacle for emphasis. "Tell Citrinas. Don't forget."

Jenny cracks a smile. "I'll tell her." She reads the scroll and vanishes.